Kapow, Batman, it's police custody, not child custody

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A Palace security guard negoatiate with Jason Hatch from a balcony on Buckingham Palace in London. Hatch a member of the group "fathers 4 justice" scaled the Royal place to protest against the legal standing for divorced fathers. The protestor dressed as batman eluded security by climbing over a security fence with a ladder.Picture:AFP

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A fathers' rights protester dressed as Batman exposed
security holes at Buckingham Palace when he scaled the palace wall and
spent more than five hours on a ledge next to the royal
balcony.

Security chiefs have ordered an inquiry to explain how Jason
Hatch, a member of the lobby group, Fathers 4 Justice, evaded palace
security, to stage the publicity stunt. A fellow protester, dressed as
Robin, Dave Pyke, pulled out as he climbed the ladder after being
challenged by police.

But Hatch, 32, a serial protester, made his way
around the palace perimeter to unfurl a banner next to the famous
balcony.

His banner read: Super Dads of Fathers 4 Justice.

The
incident prompted a barrage of ridicule and bad puns in the British press,
and raised the question of how safe Britain's royal family would be from a
terrorist attack.

Under the headline, "Kapow!", Britain's Daily
Mail wrote, "Batman makes a laughing stock of Britain's security
forces (But what if it had been al-Qaeda?)".

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The head of the
Metropolitan Police Force, Sir John Stevens, said police would have shot
Hatch if they thought he was armed with a bomb.

No member of the royal
family was in residence at the time.

The incident was embarrassing for
police as it came after two recent reviews of royal security and the
appointment of a new chief, Brigadier Jeff Cook.

The reviews were prompted by revelations that a
Daily Mirror
reporter had been able to work
undercover as a footman at the palace and last year's gatecrashing of
Prime William's 21st birthday at Windsor Castle by "comedy terrorist"
Aaron Barschak.

The stunt came as another member of the fathers' group
faced public order charges for throwing a purple flour bomb at Prime
Minister Tony Blair during question time at the House of Commons earlier
this year.

The group has staged several high-profile protests, often
dressed as superhero comic book characters, to bring attention to what
they claim is the mistreatment of divorced fathers by the courts and
Parliament.

Hatch, who has four children from three women, was
eventually persuaded to leave the palace ledge just after 7pm on Monday,
London time. His accomplice, Pyke, 42, described palace security as
"non-existent".

"It was unbelievably easy," he told reporters.

A man dressed in a 'Batman' suit is removed from balcony of the Buckingham Palace in London.Picture:AP

"We
used a ladder to get on to the roof of a palace building which was just 10
yards from the road. I had a bag with me, there could have been anything
in there, explosives or anything."